• by Laurie Sullivan , Yesterday

The Trade Desk (TTD) has cut its global headcount by about 15% globally, but its vision and mission will remain unchanged as the company maneuvers through turbulent times.

TTD Chief Executive Jeff Green delivered the initial news in the company's newsletter, The Current, and then followed up with emails to those who were affected. He said the reduction was a reallocation of resources rather than a response to financial distress.

The company wrote in its February financial filings that it had 3,843 full-time employees as of December 31, 2025. The restructuring is estimated to affect more than 500 employees. Each employee whose last day became Sept. 4 received a "transition package."

The news comes on the heels of TTD reporting disappointing quarterly earnings last month.

Revenue grew by 3% year-on-year, and the company missed Wall Street expectations on earnings.

While The Trade Desk did not meet specific standards set by the company, he wrote in the online public newsletter announcement that TTD has approximately $1.5 billion cash on hand and no debt on the balance sheet. 

In August, New Street Research published a report stating that TTD's revenue numbers were "shocking," and set a new stock target at $10, down from $17 on significantly lower estimates and slightly lower valuation.

The focus on “decisioned buying” will become a key factor to watch, according to New Street Research. "We view this as another way of saying TTD has no plans to launch a low-cost option with limited decisioning right now," stated the report.

"We’re positioning ourselves for growth," Green wrote in the post. "We’ve captured ~1% of the TAM. We have so much more to do."

Former employees who received notices on Friday also posted their thoughts.

Ian Ivins, TTD CTV Strategy & Partnerships at TTD, wrote and posted to LinkedIn, "today is my last day at The Trade Desk, following a restructuring," after two-and-a half years. He wrote the post as he flew home from London and said he was "in shock."

"For everyone else affected today, this isn't about your talent, your value, or your output," Ivins wrote. "It hurts right now, but there are better things ahead."

Ivins' post prompted more than 32 comments of support.

TTD stood at one time as the biggest success story in advertising technology under Green's leadership, but then it declined.

Even as the company began to decline, Green wrote on the company's blog post in March that he had purchased about $150 million of TTD stock, "the biggest purchase of my life," he wrote, betting big on artificial intelligence and the technology around AI that will turnaround the company.

"TTD has been building AI and machine learning tools for more than a decade — long before the recent AI hype phase," Green wrote. "AI is across our platform — supercharging our bidder, our valuation engine, our SPO efforts, our predictive clearing product, our new Deal Desk."

Kokai, an AI-powered platform for planning, buying, and measuring advertising across the open web, can analyze 20 million ad opportunities every second, each with thousands of variables, all in the context of first- and third-party data, in milliseconds, the company said.

In late August, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged TTD's former Senior Director of Financial Planning Jesse Mitchell with insider trading, while federal prosecutors independently charged him with securities fraud.

They alleged Mitchell made more than $338,000 in profits from trading The Trade Desk's stock using material, nonpublic information he learned through his employment at the company.

This year, TTD also experienced executive departures including its chief finance officer, chief revenue officer, chief strategy officer, chief marketing officer and four members of its board.